Atlantic City: A Supergirl Fan-Fiction

by: Sam Lincoln

Disclaimer: All the characters contained in this story are the property of DC Comics, and Warner Brothers. No infringement is intended.

Summary: Everything dies baby that's a fact, but maybe everything that dies somedays come back. Put your make up on, fix your hair up pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.

Spoilers: This takes place directly after the Crisis on Earth-X crossover.

Chapter One: They Blew Up the Chicken Man

—xxx—xxx—xxx—xxx—xxx—

A gangly, balding man with a beak like nose and dressed in a rumpled suit scurried down a side street in Philadelphia. He looked up and down the street before reaching into his pocket, pulled out an old flip phone and dialed the only number programmed into the phone.

"Sawyer, it's me. I know you told me to lay low, and never call this number after everything went sideways, and I've tried, God knows I've tried. But something big is about to go down, and I sit on my hands and do nothing. There's going to be a sale, a big one, soon. The boss is overseeing it personally. I've left everything I know about it in one of the old drops. It's not much, but hopefully it's enough."

The man sucked in his breath and looked up and down the street. "Look Sawyer, I'm sorry about dumping this all on you, but I've got no one else to trust. Don't try to get in touch with me. I'm leaving town tonight, there's too much heat for me to stay." The man walked up the stairs to his brownstone and inserted his key into the door. "I hope you get this message Sawyer because you're my last hope." He turned the key in the lock and started to push the door open. There was a soft pinging noise and before the man could react the entire brownstone was enveloped in an explosion.

-National City

Detective Maggie Sawyer pushed open the door to her new, and very empty, apartment. She tossed her mail on a side table next to the door to be dealt with at a later date. A soft rustling sound caused Maggie to draw her gun and face the interior of her apartment.

"I know it's you, so show yourself and spare us both the trouble," Maggie said to the darkened apartment.

"That's my girl Mags, I was worried all your time out here on the left coast had made you soft." A pale woman with cropped red hair and dressed in a leather jacket and jeans stepped out of the shadows.

Maggie exhaled and holstered her gun. "What are you doing here Kate?"

Kate Kane smirked. "I heard through the grapevine that you called off another marriage. Seeing as I have some experience with how that feels I thought I'd pay you a visit and see how you're doing."

Maggie set her hands on her hips. "Cut the crap Kate. I haven't heard word one from you since I moved to National City and now all of a sudden you show up in my apartment? You want something from me, so let's hear it."

Kate reached into the pocket of her jacket and withdrew a digital recorder. "The Chicken Man was murdered last night. I thought you should know."

Maggie staggered back against her apartment door. "What, why how?"

Kate walked over to the peninsula that separated the kitchen from the dining room. She placed the recorder on the peninsula and poured herself a glass of Scotch from the bottle that sat nearby. "There was a call left on the old answering machine, you should listen to it." Kate walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa as she waited for Maggie.

Maggie picked up the recorder and pushed play. She sagged against the peninsula when she heard the voice of the dead man come out of the recorder's tinny speaker. She listened to the message in its entirety before she turned the recorder off and placed it back on the peninsula. She poured herself a glass of Scotch, finished it in one shot, then poured herself another. Kate watched in silence as Maggie walked into the living room and stood in front of her. "What the hell happened Kate?"

Kate swirled the whisky around in her glass before replying. "Exactly what it sounded like. George found something he shouldn't have and Mannheim made sure he didn't tell anyone about it."

"Bruno didn't do a very good job there," Maggie said. "What was at the dead drop?"

Kate reached into her jacket and withdrew a reporter's notebook which she tossed to Maggie. "Take a look for yourself."

Maggie flipped through the notebook then returned her attention to Kate. "He wasn't kidding when he said this was big." Maggie's eyes narrowed. "Why are you showing me all this?"

Kate shrugged. "He was your CI. I thought you deserved to hear the bad news from a, uh, familiar voice, someone who was there when it all went down."

"No there's more to it than that. Not that I don't appreciate you making the effort to come here and tell me in person, but you wouldn't bring this." She waved the notepad in the air. "If you just wanted to tell me that George was dead."

Kate sipped on her Scotch. "Don't you want a chance to get payback for George?"

Maggie tossed the notepad onto her coffee table. "We've been over this, I'm not a vigilante Kate. Take this to your friends in Gotham, or better yet, the police."

Kate set her drink down on the coffee table then folded her hands in her lap. "I did bring it to the police. I brought it to you."

"That's not what I meant. I'm a detective in National City. The police there are the ones who should know about this."

"Those police are completely bought and paid for and you know it." Kate stood up from the sofa. "Face it Mags, if you want justice for George then you have to help me."

"Damnit Kate, don't do this to me," Maggie said. "Don't pull me back into your world again."

Kate stepped around the table and placed her hands on Maggie's shoulders. "I wouldn't come to you unless I had not other choice. Batman and the others aren't available, there's something with the League of Assassins." She paused. "Besides, this is something the two of us have to do together."

Maggie raised an eyebrow. "We have to?"

"I think so, be honest, don't you?" Kate replied. "We both want to nail Mannheim to the wall."

"I don't deny that, but not like this Kate," Maggie said. She pulled away from Kate and walked to the other side of the room. "It should be a regular police investigation and he should wind up in jail for a long time. If we do it as vigilantes then the case will get thrown out in a heartbeat."

"Mags, you read George's notes. If nothing else we need to stop this arms deal. If we only manage that then George's death won't have been in vain."

Maggie drew in a deep breath then finished off her glass of Scotch. "Damn you Kate, I never could say no to you."

A smile broke out on Kate's face. "Except for that one time."

"That's true, there was that one time," Maggie said. "But apparently that was the only time."

"So you're in?" Kate asked.

Maggie sighed. "Against my better judgement I'm in. I owe the Chicken Man that much." Maggie held up a finger. "But we are doing this my way, and I have some ground rules. First of all, no discussions of of any relationships, especially ours, the past the past and there's no sense in relitigating it. We both know what went wrong, it would only be a distraction."

"Agreed, but what about you and, what was her name?"

"Her name is Alex, and there isn't much to say. She wanted kids and I didn't. No sense in moving forward if we couldn't come to an agreement about that."

Kate made a face. "Kids, really? That sounds so boring and domestic coming from you Mags, especially considering what drove us apart." She held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry, that broke your first rule didn't it?"

Maggie smirked. "It did, but I can give you a pass just this once."

"What's your second rule?" Kate asked.

Maggie poured herself another glass of Scotch and drank it in one shot. "My second rule isn't a rule as much as it is a requirement, one you're not going to like."

Kate crossed her arms. "What do you mean I'm not going to like it?"

"If we're going to do this then we're going to have to recruit one more member of our team. An expert in the sort of alien weapons that Intergang specializes in, and who Intergang wouldn't recognize on sight."

Kate frowned. "And why wouldn't I like that?"

Maggie drew in a deep breath. "Because of who that person is."

—xxx—xxx—xxx—xxx—xxx—

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Kara Danvers called out to her sister. They were both in Alex's apartment after returning from their trip to Earth-1. Kara stood in Alex's living room as she waited for Alex to emerge from her bedroom.

"Of course I'm going to be okay," Alex said as she walked into the living room dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms and a comfortable shirt. "The question is if you're going to be okay. I didn't have my evil Nazi doppelgänger explode in my arms."

Kara flapped her arms up and down. "I'm not here to talk about me. I do that enough. Sure, it was weird to be almost murdered by someone who looked exactly like me, but that comes with the job of being a superhero. Strange things happen to you and you either roll with it or you go mad, and I choose to roll with it."

Alex laughed. "Kara, I just fought Nazis from another dimension in yet another dimension. You do not have a monopoly on strange things occurring in your life."

"I've got more experience with the weirdness."

"In other words I can't talk until I've been trapped inside a musical?"

Kara smiled at Alex. "Exactly, I'm glad we both agree."

Alex flopped down on her sofa. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Kara sat down next to Alex. "I don't know, I mean this was a very monumental trip for you."

Alex patted Kara on the knee. "Monumental how? Do you mean how I was nearly stranded in a Nazi-ruled dystopia with a hard-ass version of Winn."

"You know honestly that's the most hard to believe thing to happen to either of us. I don't want to make fun of Winn, but I just can't picture him as a hard-ass. He's Winn for crying out loud."

"I'm a little concerned you find yourself being a Nazi more believable," Alex said.

"That was, I try not to think about that, and she was married to Oliver, which was just the grossest, and we can both agree to never speak of it ever again, and focused on what was really important."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Winn Schott, freedom fighting hard-ass?"

"Yes, I mean no, I mean that is amazing as we both have plainly made clear, but that's not what I had in mind."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I see where this is headed, you're talking about me and Sara."

"You have to admit, you and Sara, you know, it's…it's a big deal. You said it yourself."

"Yes Kara, Sara and I hooked up, then fought our way out of that Nazi dystopia. Which really puts a one night stand into perspective."

"That's true, but it's also depressing to think about, so I'd rather gossip with my sister about her love life." Kara rested her head against Alex's shoulder. "Unless you'd rather talk about how we were both almost killed by Nazis."

Alex placed her arm around Kara's shoulders and pulled her in closer. "No you're right. I'd rather not talk about Nazis. So what do you want to know about me and Sara. I hope you know I'm not the type to kiss and tell."

"What? No, ew, no I'd rather not hear anything about you and kissing." Kara scrunched her face into a look of disgust.

"I see how it is now. I have to listen to you giving me blow by blow descriptions of all the times you and Mon-El made out, but when the tables are turned you suddenly turn into a prude."

The tips of Kara's ears turned pink. "First of all, I am not a prude. And secondly, I did not give you blow by blow descriptions of the times Mon-El and I made out because that wouldn't have been proper." Kara held her nose up in the air at a haughty angle. "Besides, I don't care about your make outs, I want to know about the two of you going forward?"

Alex pushed herself away from Kara. "She's a time traveling assassin who lives in an alternate dimension, there's no going forward there."

"You could make it work," Kara said. "Cisco could make you a dimensional breach thingy like mine, and you could hop back and forth to see each other."

Alex took hold of Kara's hands and gave them a squeeze. "Kara, do you remember why I broke up with Maggie?"

"You wanted kids and she didn't?"

"And does sassy time traveling assassin sound like a person who is interested in having kids?"

"You never know, maybe?"

"Sara and I are friends, and that's all. Stop trying to force me into a relationship."

"But you were so happy when you were with Maggie."

"I was, but come on Kara, you don't see me setting you up on dates, and Mon-El left long before Maggie and I split up."

"Okay, true but,"

Alex held up a hand to cut Kara off. "Kara, the reason I was happy was because for the first time I understood myself, and that hasn't changed even though Maggie and I broke up. I don't need to be in a relationship to be happy."

Kara let out a sigh. "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm being a jerk trying to force you back out into the dating scene so soon after you and Maggie split up. You'll get back out there at your own time I'm sure. You've been more than understanding with me, the least I could do is return the favor. Can you forgive me?"

Alex leaned over and gave Kara a hug. "Of course I can, but to make it up to me whenever you do feel up to dating again be sure to forward me every match you get on OkCupid okay?"

"So you can have Winn run background checks on all of them?" Kara shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Oh that is happening whether you like it or not," Alex said.

Kara's response was cut off by a knock on the door. Kara lowered her glasses to look outside at whoever was standing at the door. She then quickly raised her glasses and stood up from the couch. "Call me tomorrow." She told Alex before she flew out of the apartment.

Alex pushed herself off the sofa and walked over to the door. She looked back at the open window Kara flew out of as she pulled the door open to reveal Maggie and Kate. "Maggie, what are you doing here?"

"I hate to ask you this, but I need your help Alex," Maggie said.

-To Be Continued-

Author's Notes: This story's been in development since shortly after Crisis on Earth-X. After the announcement that the DC:CW is doing Batwoman in the upcoming, I decided I'd better get my version published before they do theirs and here we are.

-sam, 2018-07-29